Sensitive, Humble, and Obedient to His Direction
May 25, 2025 · Acts
Scripture referenced 2 passages
The passage this message was preached from, in full, with every other passage it reached for.
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Acts 16:6-40 the main passage preached through for the entire sermon
6 When they had gone through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia.
7 When they had come opposite Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit didn’t allow them.
8 Passing by Mysia, they came down to Troas.
9 A vision appeared to Paul in the night. There was a man of Macedonia standing, begging him, and saying, “Come over into Macedonia and help us.”
10 When he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go out to Macedonia, concluding that the Lord had called us to preach the Good News to them.
11 Setting sail therefore from Troas, we made a straight course to Samothrace, and the day following to Neapolis;
12 and from there to Philippi, which is a city of Macedonia, the foremost of the district, a Roman colony. We were staying some days in this city.
13 On the Sabbath day we went outside of the city by a riverside, where we supposed there was a place of prayer, and we sat down, and spoke to the women who had come together.
14 A certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, one who worshiped God, heard us; whose heart the Lord opened to listen to the things which were spoken by Paul.
15 When she and her household were baptized, she begged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house, and stay.” So she persuaded us.
16 As we were going to prayer, a certain girl having a spirit of divination met us, who brought her masters much gain by fortune telling.
17 Following Paul and us, she cried out, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to us a way of salvation!”
18 She was doing this for many days. But Paul, becoming greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her!” It came out that very hour.
19 But when her masters saw that the hope of their gain was gone, they seized Paul and Silas, and dragged them into the marketplace before the rulers.
20 When they had brought them to the magistrates, they said, “These men, being Jews, are agitating our city,
21 and advocate customs which it is not lawful for us to accept or to observe, being Romans.”
22 The multitude rose up together against them, and the magistrates tore their clothes from them, and commanded them to be beaten with rods.
23 When they had laid many stripes on them, they threw them into prison, charging the jailer to keep them safely,
24 who, having received such a command, threw them into the inner prison, and secured their feet in the stocks.
25 But about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.
26 Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone’s bonds were loosened.
27 The jailer, being roused out of sleep and seeing the prison doors open, drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped.
28 But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, “Don’t harm yourself, for we are all here!”
29 He called for lights, sprang in, fell down trembling before Paul and Silas,
30 brought them out, and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
31 They said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.”
32 They spoke the word of the Lord to him, and to all who were in his house.
33 He took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes, and was immediately baptized, he and all his household.
34 He brought them up into his house, and set food before them, and rejoiced greatly, with all his household, having believed in God.
35 But when it was day, the magistrates sent the sergeants, saying, “Let those men go.”
36 The jailer reported these words to Paul, saying, “The magistrates have sent to let you go; now therefore come out, and go in peace.”
37 But Paul said to them, “They have beaten us publicly, without a trial, men who are Romans, and have cast us into prison! Do they now release us secretly? No, most certainly, but let them come themselves and bring us out!”
38 The sergeants reported these words to the magistrates, and they were afraid when they heard that they were Romans,
39 and they came and begged them. When they had brought them out, they asked them to depart from the city.
40 They went out of the prison, and entered into Lydia’s house. When they had seen the brothers, they encouraged them, and departed.
World English Bible · Read it in another translation
Keep this verse
2 Peter 3:9
quoted near the end as a benediction about God not being slow about his promise and wishing all to come to repentance
9 The Lord is not slow concerning his promise, as some count slowness; but is patient with us, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
World English Bible · Read it in another translation
Recap
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
Pastor Jonathan walked through Acts 16:6-40 on Memorial Day weekend, tracing Paul and Silas's journey across Asia Minor and into Macedonia and focusing on three vignettes from Philippi. The through-line was simple: God is in the business of saving and changing lives, and He accomplishes that through people who are sensitive, humble, and obedient to His direction.
What was said
The passage opens with a travelogue of blocked doors. The Spirit kept Paul and Silas from entering Asia to the south and Bithynia to the north, and the text gives no explanation of what that looked like in practice. Pastor Jonathan drew a parallel to his own family's experience of sensing they were not supposed to commit to a missions agency even after years of involvement with them, and noted that being sensitive to the Spirit's redirection is itself something worth learning from Paul's example.
Arriving at Troas with nowhere obvious to go, Paul receives a night vision of a Macedonian man pleading for help. Luke's sudden shift from "they" to "we" places him in the room at that moment, possibly just having joined the group. The team concludes together that God is calling them to preach the gospel in Macedonia, and they sail immediately with favorable winds.
The first vignette in Philippi is Lydia, a seller of purple fabric from Thyatira who already worshiped God and knew the Old Testament. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul's message. She believed, her household was baptized, and she immediately pressed them to stay in her home. Pastor Jonathan noted that the summer tourism season puts First B Jackson in a position not unlike Paul's, with people coming to them rather than the other way around, and that hospitality is its own form of sending the light.
The second vignette is a slave girl with a spirit of divination, described plainly in the text as a python spirit. Her owners were profiting from her fortune-telling. She followed Paul's group for several days, announcing that these men were servants of the Most High God proclaiming a way of salvation. Paul, by his own account greatly annoyed, finally commanded the spirit out in the name of Jesus Christ, and it left immediately. Her liberation cost her owners their income stream, and they dragged Paul and Silas before the magistrates on a charge framed in anti-Semitic and patriotic Roman terms.
Without any trial, Paul and Silas were beaten with rods and thrown into the inner prison with their feet in the stocks spread wide apart. About midnight they were praying and singing hymns and the other prisoners were listening. An earthquake shook the foundations, all the doors opened, and all the chains came loose. The jailer, likely a retired Roman soldier who understood that escaped prisoners meant his execution, drew his sword to kill himself.
Paul called out to stop him and told him everyone was still there. The jailer fell down trembling before Paul and Silas and asked the question the slave girl's announcement had been pointing toward all along: "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" They told him to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, spoke the word to his whole household, and before the night was out he had washed their wounds, been baptized with his household, brought them into his home, and set food before them. Pastor Jonathan observed that the prayer a Pharisee like Paul would have said every morning, thanking God for not making him a Gentile, a slave, or a woman, had been answered in reverse order: a woman first, then a slave, then a Gentile man.
When the magistrates sent word to release them quietly, Paul refused, insisting they come in person. His reason was not stubbornness but a deliberate public statement that sharing the gospel is not unlawful and that those who had been beaten and jailed without due process were in fact Roman citizens. The magistrates, alarmed, came and escorted them out. Before leaving town, Paul and Silas went to Lydia's house and encouraged the small group of believers that had already formed, and then departed.
Doing a Bible study?
Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages in order, questions for the group, and room to write.
- Pastor Tim described Paul and Silas being blocked by the Holy Spirit from going into Asia and Bithynia, and compared it to a time he and Tanya felt hindered from going to Morocco and Spain. Have you ever sensed God closing a door on something you were pursuing? How did you recognize it, and what came next?
- When Paul saw the vision of the Macedonian man, Luke and the others together concluded that God was calling them to bring the gospel there. What does it look like in your own experience to discern God's direction as a group rather than alone?
and 3 more questions in the guide
Read the full transcript 7,899 words
Speaker 1Good morning, everybody. Good morning. Here we are. Would you stand on this Memorial Day weekend? Celebrate Memorial Day tomorrow.
We always out here, obviously, it's the unofficial beginning of summer and the chaos that comes with it is back. But here here we are and we're going to sing a few patriotic hymns this morning. And I'd like to pray to start off with. Lord, thank you. Thank you for thank you for what you have done and thank you for what you are continuing to do.
Lord, and those who are sensitive and humble and obedient, you are working your will and your way. And Lord, I pray that you would have your way among us, you'd have your way through us, that we would be sensitive to your spirit, and we would also be cognizant and thoughtful to towards all of the families who have lost loved ones in the distant past and in the more recent present times. Lord, for the McCollum family from here who lost Riley not so long back. And for this Memorial Day, Lord, we are thankful. In Jesus name, we ask that you would, Lord, that you would bring us into place of unity and harmony in harmony in a place that right now is divided, polarized, and so Lord God almighty, I pray that you would have your will and your way, that you would bring your people who are called by your name, that you would use us, lord, effectively.
Amen. Now, God of our fathers, here we are. On the last. Amen. Amen.
How about America the Beautiful? Did the computer hang up there, Blake? There we go. I was going say, this one we might know. Amen.
Y'all can have a seat. I have a few announcements. One of them is the Vacation Bible School is happening this year, June twenty third to twenty sixth, nine in the morning till twelve noon. Road trip is the theme. Road trip, go with God or on the go with God is the theme this year.
If you'd like to sign up a child, you can do that on the church website. You can use that little QR code if you know how. But I'm gonna skip past it real quick. Hey, that's the last of it. No.
There's a that's happening if you want to volunteer or if you want to sign somebody up. That's pretty easy to do. Let us know and we'll do it for you. Church cleanup. Church cleanup.
Tim, would you come on up and grab a microphone from? Yeah. Emily. So the church cleanup is happening this coming Saturday, May 31. There you go.
Speaker 3Yeah. We're doing the cleanup day, and it's gonna be nine to one pizza afterward as you can all read, I'm sure. But show up being ready to work with some work clothes, work gloves if you would like to do something that's a little heavier. But I'm gonna have a sign up down in the fellowship hall after the service. And so if there's something specific you're skilled at or wanna do, it would be good to know that, and I can either sign you up or get you to head a head up a crew that can do a few things.
And so we've got some cleaning things, some landscaping things, some carpentry things. So
Speaker 1Your efforts will not be wasted. Your efforts will not be wasted. Tim's good at lining people out on what needs to be done. That was our job in Mexico for the first three years we were there was lining people out. So I promise you, if you show up ready to work, he'll put you to work.
And that is happening at the same time as my sister's closet, is a ladies clothing swap happens May thirty first, twenty first. It's wrong there. Thirty first shopping from ten till noon. So that leaves a little time before and a little time after, and they will also have lunch. So there'll be food provided here then.
Yes, Nick? Thursday or Friday is time for drop offs. We'd ask that you don't do it before then because it gets real crowded real fast around here. Decent gently used clothing, no ripped up stuff will be donated and swapped down here, and then it'll be fun. It's a good time.
Our missions moment this morning is Dave and Kim Hatfield, Tanya and Tanya and I. I always say Tanya and Pascal. Pascal didn't get to go on this one. Tanya and I went February, March, we got to see them in March and they're doing very well. The school, Maisha Mopya Learning Center is at capacity, and you think, well, that's an issue.
Well, they also have been gifted a new building and land that's great for school. It'll need some repairs and need some work. They're building a wall and updating dormitories right now, but it will actually be a dormitory residential school, this new place. So they're growing and working through all of the issues that happen. So please pray for the needed staff and the drivers and the sponsors for the children and development funds.
Livingstone Global is their organization. We pray for them every week and we have been supporting them for years now. They came to speak, spoke on September 8 here last year and I just wanna pray for them right now. So, lord, for Dave and Kim and for all of the staff and for those in Nakuru, Kenya right there in that beautiful location with all of those precious children. Lord, I pray that we would be and they would be sensitive to your spirit, that they would be humble before you, and that they would receive your direction well, and that you'd give them the power, the empowerment of the spirit to be able to carry out your will in your way.
In Jesus name, thank you for Dave and Kim, our friends. Amen. I think that's it. Anything else you can find on the church website, firstbjackson.org and see, have I omissions, deletions, did I forget anything? No.
Good. Would you stand with me? We're gonna sing Rock of Ages. We had Cowboy Church on the square this morning in between services. So I finished the first service and then booked it down to the square and played the bass for about four and a half minutes and then the song service was over and I came back over here running.
But here we are. Emily, would you come on up and would you join us?
Speaker 2Rock of ages, cleft for me. Let me hide myself in thee.
Speaker 1Amen. And how about he is Lord? We'll sing through this couple of times, maybe three times.
Speaker 2Amen.
Speaker 1Y'all can have a seat, and I'm gonna invite the ushers to come forward. Thank you, Emma. Thank you, Judy. Worship through giving time. This is the operatory and would you just pray with me?
Lord, thank you. Thank you for all the gifts that you have given. Thank you for all of the beautiful scenery around us. The Purple Mountain Majesties. It's hard to sing that without a tear in our heart.
Thank you lord that this is a place that attracts so many from all over the world and we as the believers in this valley have a a hospitality about us that we are able to share the love and the life of Jesus. The the body of Christ, the continuing body of Christ. May we be about his mission. May we be proclaiming freedom to the captives. May we be proclaiming the word of God.
In Jesus name, we live, we move, we have our being. I thank you lord for this little body right here. This representation of the body of Christ. I thank you and ask you that you would bring us closer and closer and closer together. All of the churches in the valley, all of the Christians in the valley that we may be a shining shining light for all of our visitors.
In Jesus name, I ask you to use us to do your will and your way. Amen. Wow. Here we are. In scripture, we're up to Acts 16.
We've been going through a study of Acts just straight in order and today, there is a bit of a travelogue which is almost always the case in Acts. If we're paying attention, it tells where they where they are, where they're going, what's happening. But there are three vignettes, and I think that they're interesting that all three of them right here together. So we're gonna we're just gonna go through it. Acts sixteen six through 40, and here we go.
Oh, church work day. Did we mention that? Saturday, May 31. You can see Tim. He he said he would hang around afterwards and and figure out for help you figure out what it is that you might be doing.
This is where we're starting. So this is where we left off last week was Lystra. It's where Paul picked up Timothy and to take him on this, the second missionary journey. Now, we talked about Paul and Barnabas and having had a sharp disagreement, they split and went separate ways and from Antioch, Paul and Silas, the preacher, prophet, whatever you wanna call it from Jerusalem that had come up to Antioch left. Paul and Silas left and went through Syria, Cilicia, and were working their way across to Derby and Lystra and Barnabas and John Mark went to Cyprus, Barnabas' home and so, God had movement in two different directions.
We now are following Paul and Silas but and we'll see why in a moment but Lystra is where we left off last week. That's where we're picking up. If you're wondering, from the right side of the screens all the way over to say Troas on the Aegean Sea, how big is that? Do you know? Well, here you go.
If you're from Texas, now you know. Alright. That's the way it is. Asia Minor is about the size of the breadth of the main heartland part of Texas. So from about Orange or Viter or Beaumont all the way across to Clovis, New Mexico.
That's it. So that's the size we're talking about. Think about that though. If I come into Texas on I 10, it's a long long long long way till I get to the other side of Texas. In fact, if we left from here to go to our little part of Mexico, when we get to Texas, we're halfway there.
So if you think about that, Asia Minor is pretty big. Now we're going to talk about people who are walking over land, going. Yeah. I see all the Texans going, yep, it is pretty big. Antioch, Cilicia, they're in Lystra and it says, now they passed through Phrygian and Galatian region.
The Phreesian and Galatian region after being forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. Now, what does that look like? What does it look like to be forbidden by the spirit to speak the word in Asia? This is all it says. I don't know exactly what that's like.
I don't I don't know exactly what it looked like for them. What inhibited them? We if we look at the map and we see Asia, we'll recognize some of the cities of Asia are Ephesus and Miletus, both of which we know Paul ministered there later. So this was just not the time for that apparently, but we say apparently because it says they were hindered when they're passing through the Phrygian and Galatians regions and they got to Asia and they were forbidden by the spirit to enter there. That's all we know about it.
But they were sensitive to the spirit's movement. I think that that's one of the things that we can take away from the text. And after they came to Mesia, Mesia is right there above the black line where they blocked from going south into Asia. After they came to Mysia, they were trying to go into Bithynia. Bithynia is above.
Bithynia and Pontus are Upper Asia Minor, and they were blocked there. It says, the spirit of Jesus which is kind of a rare phrase. The spirit of Jesus did not allow them to go into Bithynia. What does that look like? I'm not sure.
It doesn't say. But it says, that they recognized it, that they were hindered. Now, in our modern parlance, a lot of times we'd say, well, God closed the door. We thought that that's what we're gonna do. Tanya and I, when when when we were in seminary in South Carolina, there was an organization that we trusted and loved and we had done everything except for Sign on the Dotted Line with this agency, Crossover Communications International.
We loved the founder, we loved the staff, we loved everybody, and we had gone to several trips, gone on several trips with them and we thought that we were going to be going to Morocco and the South Of Spain. That's what we thought. But we were hindered from doing that and part of the reason we're hindered from doing that is y'all called us to preach here. So that was a that was something that we had no plan for doing. But we were trying to be sensitive to the spirit and we never did get a complete peace about signing on the dotted line, although we raised money for them, and we went on mission trips with them, and we saw God use them effectively and still is using them effectively.
Something about the spirit of Jesus or the Holy Spirit directed us not to go that way, but to come this way. So, here they are blocked on the South into Asia, blocked on the North into Bethenia by the spirit and it says, passing by Mesia, which some of your translations will say passing through, but it's a moving. It's a passing tone. They didn't stop. They didn't stop and preach in the synagogue as far as we know.
They didn't stay for long. They just passed through the area and they went downhill to Troas. And Troas is right over here to the west of Mesia and it is a little port side town. It's about 25 miles from Troy. If you're familiar with Greek history, the whole Trojan War story, that's Troy is 25 miles from Troas.
And it says, there they were in Troas and now, what are they going to do? That's the question. The very next verse says, and a vision appeared to Paul in the night. Okay. Paul, Silas, Timothy are together.
We know those. We know that the author is describing this but so far he's saying they, they, they. A vision appeared to Paul in the night. A man of Macedonia was standing and was pleading with and saying, come over. Come on over to Macedonia and help us.
Now, it's he's asking for help. We don't know what kind of help he was looking for but I don't know. Maybe it's the humanitarian aid missionary in me that says, he just wanted help but the help he needs is salvation. Actually, the next line says, now, when Paul had seen that vision, we, oh, this is great. This is where Luke, Gentile physician and author of Luke and Acts.
He says, we. Now, he's not just inserted himself into the narrative. He's with him. We, we, it's huge. After saying they did this and they did that, they did this and they did that.
And then Paul has this vision at Troas, maybe it is that Luke was picked up right there in Troas. Maybe you've been with him a little while, but now when Paul had seen the vision, we all together, we immediately sought to leave for Macedonia. We have heard the Macedonian call today. Do you all know that song? This is the second service.
You all
Speaker 2supposed to know this song. We have heard the Macedonian call today. Send the light. Send the light. And the golden offering at the cross we lay.
Send the light. Send the light. Send the light. The blessed gospel light, let it shine. From shore to shore, send the light, the blessed gospel light, let it shine forevermore.
There's a call comes ringing over the restless waves. Send the light.
Speaker 1Send the light. There are souls to rescue. There are souls to save. Send the light. Send the light.
This is where we get that song. Paul has this vision of a Macedonian man. Come on over to Macedonia and help us and we when we he had seen the vision and we immediately sought to leave concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them. Now, to concluding, I've mentioned already several times in the service about being sensitive to the spirit and being humble before God. God uses the humble to accomplish what he wants done and he resists the proud And so, they together, after Paul sees this vision, they are together and prayerful and humble before God and what they concluded as a group is that this call for help is what we need to go and help, and what they really need, the help they really need is the gospel.
Here it is. So, send the light. From Troas, Macedonia, you'll see is across the Aegean Sea. That is what we call Europe today. It's Greece, but it is Europe.
And so, Neapolis, Philippi, Amphipolis, Apollonia, Thessalonica, and Berea are all a part of Macedonia. And so from Troas, it says, after setting sail from Troas, we ran a straight course to Samothrace. He says it like there was some immediacy there and that it was a pretty quick trip from Troas to Samothrace, and they had favorable winds, it sounds like because later on in acts, we see it takes five days to come back the other direction. Only took took one to get from Troas to Samothrace. So after setting sail from Troas, we ran a straight course to Samothrace where they apparently spent the night, maybe just in harbor, but maybe they went inland, but who knows?
How many of you all have been are art historians? You all know that I was an art major way back. Yeah. There are a lot of you that love art. This is the winged victory Of Samothrace.
That was It's one of the statues of antiquity probably around one ninety BC or so. Pascal did a whole presentation on this thing when she was in high school. But it is at the top of the stairs at the Louvre in France, and it's beautiful. It doesn't have the head or the hands, but this winged victory of Samothrace would have been not just in an exalted position in the Louvre right now, it was a top the temple on Samothrace. So in the high ground of Samothrace, obviously, it's the pagan gods, but it's a victory statue, the Nike or victory of Samothrace.
And on the following day, now who knows whether they saw it or not, but it was there at the time. It was atop this temple Acropolis Mount. And on the following day, they went to Neapolis. So from Samothrace to Neapolis, which is the port city for Macedonia, especially Philippi. And from there, they went to Philippi, which is a leading city of the district of Macedonia and it, Philippi, is a Roman colony.
So this is a place where the Roman patriotism was very strong. There were quite a few retired Roman soldiers there. We'll meet one of them. It's very likely to have been a retired Roman soldier who was a jailer. We'll meet him before the end of the our text today.
From there to Philippi, is a leading city of the district of Macedonia. It's not a capital city, but it's a Roman colony. And the nature of Philippi as a place is one of fairly extreme patriotism towards the Roman Empire which usually carries with it the imperial cult where they worship the the emperor. They also worship panoply of gods, just tons of gods. So Philippi, that's where it is.
And we, Luke says, we're spending some days in this city. We took our time in Philippi and here's where those three vignettes start. There are three different pictures that I'll see and I there's a lot of different ways you can look at this. I hope I remember to tell you one of them before this is over. Note to self, I didn't tell the first group.
Three vignettes. Three vignettes that show that Almighty God is in the business of saving and of changing lives. It's not just saving like time sky forevermore. So heavenly minded, we're of no earthly good. Not just that.
But also changing lives and he accomplishes his business in the real world by using people who are sensitive, humble, and obedient to his direction. So, on the Sabbath day, we, Luke says, Luke, Timothy, Paul, Silas, maybe more. On the Sabbath day, we went outside outside of the gate of the city of Philippi to a riverside where we were thinking that there was a place of prayer. This is the best word on the street that we had ascertained in Philippi. Now, they normally started in the synagogue, right?
Paul usually started in the synagogue but you know what? There was no synagogue in Philippi. A lot of the other places that we have excavated, we found early synagogues, but this one there was not there were probably not an 10 Jewish men in town to start a synagogue. You had to have 10 Jewish men for a synagogue to be official, and so this was not that. This was a place of prayer.
On the Sabbath day, we went outside of the gate to Riverside, which would have been fine for purification rights, flowing water. We were thinking that there was a place of prayer and when we found it, we sat down and we began speaking to the women who had assembled. Now, if you've ever been involved much in missionaries work, it's amazing how often when you go somewhere that the churches that start in our colonias in Mexico, there was a overwhelming majority were women and children. That's the way that the place started up. We kinda accidentally planted a church for the deaf while we were there, and it started up with mothers and children.
But, this place, they sat down and began speaking to the women who had assembled. It seems that there were no men there, but a woman specific one named Lydia was listening and she was herself a seller of purple goods or purple fabrics from the city of Thyatira and Lydia was a worshiper of God. This says that she has Jewish background and that she was a worshiper of God. Whether she was full Jewish heritage or a proselyte, it's hard to say, but she worshiped God. No doubt about it.
The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Now, the Lord opened her heart to respond to the things that were spoken by Paul. So, Paul's carrying the gospel everywhere he goes, where he went was Philippi, start with the people who ought to know the Old Testament. That's the the deal and God opens her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul. Now, when she and her whole household had been baptized, she urged us saying.
So, what she do? She believed. She was already primed to believe because she knew the Old Testament. She had an open heart to respond to the gospel that was spoken by Paul. Now, when she and her whole household had been baptized and initiatory right, she urged all of us saying, if you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come on in to my house and stay with me.
This is what most missionary circles would call a person of peace, right? She has accepted the word and then immediately, she prevailed upon us. I like that line too. She prevailed upon us. So, we did stay with her.
We did judge her to be faithful to the Lord. She heard the gospel and responded and so, she opened her house. So, if you're looking at Lydia, this is the first vignette of Thyatira upon hearing the gospel proclaimed, she opened her heart. God opened her heart and and he saved her and she was baptized and immediately, she displayed generosity. Come on in.
Now, I say here at the beginning of the summer especially, y'all, we have a specific and special opportunity here that people are going to show up. 5,000,000 of them a summer are going to show up and we have an opportunity here to show hospitality and generosity and just be good to people. As best we can, shine the light, send the light, and you know what? We don't even have to send it. We're here.
They're coming here to us. Shine the light here. Let's take them with it. Take it with them back home. Immediately, she displayed generosity.
That is what the spirit of God opened her heart and prompted her in that way. Now, the very next vignette starts in the next verse. It happened that as we were going to the place of prayer, there was a slave woman who had a spirit of divination, a python spirit is what this is called. Now, when we looked at the map and we had Apollonia and we had some of the other area and a lot of those things point to pagan gods. The python Apollos is one of the gods of the area and it sounds weird to us in our modern age to hear this, but it says it flatly.
This slave woman had a spirit of divination. She met up with us and she was someone who was being exploited by her masters, by her owners. She was bringing great profit to her masters by fortune telling and the fortune telling was because of the demonic spirit, the python spirit within her. Now, we have slave owners that were making money off of this slave girl exploiting this demonic spirit that she had. So she followed Paul and she followed us, Luke says, and she cried out repeatedly saying, these men are bond servants, slaves, Duloy.
These men are slaves of the most high God. They're proclaiming to you a way of salvation. What they're here about is salvation. That sound weird to y'all? Did it sound weird when the spirits recognize Jesus in the in the gospels?
The spirits often would say, you are the son of God. They were compelled to recognize his authority when he commanded them, they left. That's very similar to what's happening here. The spirit within her recognized that their bond service was to the most high God which is sort of a rare term too. Happens at intervals in scripture.
Was she just saying to a most high God? No. The most high God, she says. They're proclaiming to you a way of salvation. Now, some of your Bibles will say the way of salvation.
I think that in Greek, it's a way of salvation. Either way, that's fine. What they're here about is salvation and she's using a noun form here. It's all about their message is all about how to be saved. Now, continued doing this for many days, but Paul was greatly annoyed.
Does that sound just like Paul to y'all? Why didn't he cast out that demon immediately? Wait, wait a second. Let's let him cast it out. Here it is.
Paul was greatly annoyed. He turned to the spirit and said to the spirit, I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her and it came out at that very moment. Now, why did he wait several days? If I'm studying Paul's life and I am studying Paul's life and he's gone on his first missionary journey and he's been already one time lower down over a wall. He's been beaten with rods.
He's been beaten with whips. He's had a lot of trouble going about and I think he's trying to just be, let's get to the place of prayer. Let's don't worry so much much about this young lady. Let's don't cause any trouble. Let's try our best not to but he's greatly annoyed by it and eventually, after days of it, the the walking amplifier.
Hey, these guys are servants of the most high God. Come out of her. So, it comes out. Maybe he also knew what would happen next and this is what happened next but when her masters, the owners of this slave girl saw that their hope of profit was suddenly gone. Now, the girl's been set free.
She's no longer got this python spirit. What a burden that must have been to be filled with this demonic spirit that caused her ecstatic utterances even if they were, you know, fortune telling, soothsaying. She wasn't making the money off of it. When her master saw that their hope of profit was suddenly gone, they seized Paul and they seized Silas and they dragged them into the marketplace, the Agora before the authorities and when they dragged them in to the judgment seat as it were and they brought them into the chief magistrates, they said, these men, Jews as they are, you can hear the ugliness. Anti Semitism, I guess is a way of putting it but you can hear their patriotic pride as Romans that comes on the next line and they're proclaiming customs that are not lawful for us to accept or to practice since we are Romans.
We're better than they are. They're Jews. They're causing our city trouble. They came in to make our lives more difficult. Now, there was a Roman law against cursing someone's crops.
Magic that would hurt someone else was against the law, but this is profit that they're upset about and they're trying to frame it in a way. Oh, we all have all seen it. It happens all the time. All the time, everybody's trying to persuade to their side of things. These men, Jews as they are, are causing our city trouble.
These uppity agitators wouldn't have been any trouble except for they came in. We still hear that. We still hear it. They are proclaiming customs that are not lawful for us to accept or to practice. Now, proselytizing was not against the law.
It was discouraged in a lot of ways, but it was not against the law. They're proclaiming customs that are not lawful for us to accept or to practice since we're Romans. So the unnamed slave girl after this interaction, she was released from the demon. It's implied, but it's not explicitly stated that she was saved. But she recognized that their message was about salvation and she was liberated from a demonic spirit.
I think that implies that she was saved. Her life was forever changed. And the crowd, it says, joined in an attack against them. I'm sharing a lot of little vignettes from my own life this morning. When Tanya and I were first married, like we eloped, moved to Italy the next day.
On our orientation, Aurelia Getsi was the Italian lady that was in charge of us while we were in Rome. She was in charge of the program, and we had an orientation the first day in Rome before they really let us out and go anywhere at the Domus Pachis, the House Of Peace is where we were. And she said, before we go on, I want you to know that you're in Rome, the eternal city, and you have no idea what you're doing. Thanks. First day, she said, if you see a mob beginning to form, run-in the other direction.
She said, you have no idea where you are or what's going on. It could be labor, it could be anti government, it could be anything. People mob up here and you don't know what's going on, get out of there as quickly as you can. So people in large numbers do not act appropriately. They're easily swayed and this is what happened here.
The crowd joined in an attack against them, the prejudiced, antisemitic, patriotic perhaps crowd joined in an attack against Paul and Silas and the chief magistrates even tore the robes off of Paul and Silas. They're not ripping their own clothes because of a lack of justice, no. They ripped the clothes off, bared the backs of Paul and Silas, they proceeded to order them to be beaten with rods. Now, when they had struck them with many blows, they threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to guard them securely. Was there anything about a trial in there?
No. Okay. Just making sure. And he, the jailer, having received such a command, threw them into not just into the prison, but to the inner prison past another door and fastened their feet in the stocks. And I've heard various reports of what the stocks were like, but most reports say that they were like this.
So their legs were spread far apart in wooden stocks. So that that's pretty uncomfortable to be in prison in an interior prison to be like this, sleeping on either the floor or on stone bench. Right? With your feet spread like this. So, that's a tough spot to be in.
What's the next line say? Now, about midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and they were singing hymns, hymns of praise to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. This reminds me, Crystal. This reminds me of so many, so many of the David C. Cook little Sunday school literature.
Like, your circumstances don't determine your attitude. Now, about midnight, Paul and Silas were praying. They're singing hymns of praise to God as uncomfortable as they had to be and the other prisoners were listening to them. Now, those hymns of praise to God was for his good gospel. And suddenly, there was a great earthquake.
So that the foundations of the prison were shaken and immediately, all the doors were open. Now, this area is prone to earthquakes, it is, but this was obviously an act of God. The foundations of the prison were shaken and immediately all of the doors were opened and everyone's chains were unfastened. That's Paul and Silas as we are thinking of, but it's there were other prisoners there too. Everyone's chains were unfastened according to Luke.
When the jailer awoke and he saw that the prison doors were opened, he drew his sword and he was about to kill himself thinking that the prisoners had escaped. Now, in the book of Acts, we've already seen one time where Peter was in jail and he was delivered by an angel and what happened to the 16 guards that were assigned to keep Peter in that jail? Herod had all 16 of them killed. Four guys, four shifts apparently, and he had all of them killed because it was all their responsibilities. This jailer probably a retired Roman soldier awoke and saw the prison doors open.
He was just going to commit Harry Carey fall on his sword but he thought the prisoners had escaped. Just then, Paul called out with a loud voice and said, don't harm yourself. We're all here. We're still here. We must have been interesting enough singing praises to God in the midst that after the earthquake, everybody just hung around to hear the story.
The jailer asked for lights and he rushed in and trembling with fear, he fell down before Paul and Silas. You think he might have been one of the guys that beaten him? Could have been. Didn't say that. Could have been though.
Do you think he'd heard what happened? I I think probably so. Setting that girl free is what you're in jail for? Really? Without a trial?
That doesn't feel good. And then you stayed here though you could have easily left. The jailer asked for light, rushed in, trembling with fear. He fell down before Paul and Silas and after he brought them out, he said, sirs, what must I do to be saved? This is about salvation.
Again, same word. This is a verb form instead of a noun form but that slave girl had been crying out. Everything that they're about is salvation. They're here to tell you how to be saved. They're here to tell you how to be saved and then when they saved her life by setting her free from the demonic spirit by the spirit of God, in Jesus name, sirs, what must I do to be saved?
That's the question of the ages right there and this is the third. This is the third vignette. So, there's a common prayer. It's still a common prayer. It it sounds terrible in our day and time but it's a it's a prayer that Paul as a Pharisee would have said all of his adult life and it is a morning prayer.
It's one of the first things upon awaking. Lord, thank you that you have not made me a Gentile, a slave, or a woman. Can you believe? That's an everyday prayer. Boy, that sounds terrible.
It's terrible. And here he is, first time in Europe, and they're carrying the gospel in that order, backwards order actually. Right? It's a Gentile slave or a woman. The first person to receive was a woman.
The second person received was a slave and the third person is a Gentile. They said, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you'll be saved. You and your whole household. This is not a coattails sort of situation. He's not saying that if you get saved, everybody that's with you is saved.
He's saying, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, you'll be saved. Your household will have the best chance of seeing who Jesus is through your belief and your salvation. So, it happened and it happened in short order. It sounds like they said, believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved. You and your whole household and they spoke the word of God to him together with all who were in his house.
It's sort of a summary statement. We don't know how long this took. He took them that very hour of the night though and he washed their wounds. So, something happened within him. The jailer who put him in the stocks, perhaps of the party who had been beating them.
He took them from that very hour of the night. He washed their wounds and immediately he was baptized and he and all his household. God had shown them who he was and just like with Lydia, he had opened their heart to receive it. God goes ahead of us and he is preparing the way. We don't know this guy's backstory but we'd know that he was transformed.
He brought him into his house and he set food before them. So just like Lydia, when she is saved and changed, it immediately issues forth in hospitality. He brought him into his house, he set food before them and he was overjoyed since he had become a believer in God together with his whole household. So, the Philippian jailer, we have Lydia who's wealthy opens her heart. God opens her heart to receive the word and she immediately is generous towards them.
Philippian jailer, they shared the good news that believing in Jesus results in salvation. He believed, he was baptized, he immediately showed generosity, his whole household was baptized. He cared for him. He shared a meal with him and the whole household who had also believed. This is issuing forth in works of generosity.
It happens when you accept the gospel. Now, when the when day came, the chief manager sent sent their officers saying, release those men. They've had enough. We beat them yesterday, spent the night. Must have been terrible in that earthquake.
And the jailer reported these words to Paul saying, the chief magistrates have sent word that you all be released. So, you all come on out now and go in peace. I mean, I'm peaceful and my household is peaceful, but y'all can come on out now. You don't have to stay in jail anymore. I'll take the stocks off of you.
But Paul said to them, after beating us in public without due process, really? Is that really what they're saying? Just let us go? We're Romans. They threw us into prison without a trial and now they're just going to release us secretly and just hope it all goes away.
No, indeed. That sounds like Paul too, doesn't it? Like, nope. That's not going to happen. Now, think about why he did this.
Why wouldn't he just get away from there? That's that's pretty rough night, you know. There's a lot of joy in there too. In fact, so much joy I think when he writes the letter of Philippians, it's rejoice, rejoice, rejoice, all is about joy. He's remembered Philippi for what it was to them.
Joyful. No, indeed. On the contrary, let those chief magistrates come out in person and let them lead us out. Let them lead us out of the prison. Let them let them let us go.
I think that what Paul is doing here is recognizing instead just sneak out of town, all that the town has seen was outsiders were beaten and jailed and harmed and it looks like you're guilty even if you're not guilty. He was saying that Christianity is not against Roman law. He was saying that proselytizing and sharing the gospel is not something that is wrong. It's not something that deserves to be beaten. It's not something that deserves this.
Let them come down and let them lead us out. And so the officers reported these words back to the chief magistrates and they became fearful. Well, they should have. They should have. They beat Roman citizens without due process and they jailed them without due process and they became fearful when they heard that they were Romans.
Well, we shouldn't have done that. We really should have gone by the law. That's what set Rome apart in a lot of ways. There was Lex Rex. Right?
The law is king instead of the king is law. That's what set it apart at least. Yeah. For a while. And they came and they pleaded with them and when they had led them out, they repeatedly asked them to leave the city.
Would you all just please leave? You've caused enough trouble? We've caused enough trouble. It wasn't you, it was us. No.
Please though, get out of here. They repeatedly asked them to leave the city and so it says they did. They left the prison and they entered into the house of Lydia and when they saw the brothers and sisters, they encouraged them. They encouraged Lydia, probably the unnamed slave girl, the Philippian jailer, the household of Lydia, the household of the jailer, possibly that whole prayer group that have been meeting down by the riverside. They encouraged them and then they did get on out of town.
We'll carry on from here. We pick up after they departed next week. Would y'all would you would you pray with me for a minute? I'm going ask you to come forward and we are going to sing where he leads me, I will follow. Now, I've said several times and I I kind of let let it sit in your lap.
I I can't answer the question of how the spirit has hindered them from going into Asia. I can't say exactly how the spirit hindered them from going into Bethenia but I think that what I can say with certainty is they were sensitive to the spirit's direction. So, what I'm gonna pray for us, for all of us in the room right now. There's some of us in here who are missionaries who came out with a purpose. A Christian ministry in the National Park.
I'm glad you all are here. It's really sweet. You're carrying the gospel with you. You're sensitive to the spirit and God's brought you into this place. God, would you make us sensitive to the daily moments of God ordained appointments?
Would we recognize them lord? These divine appointments that we have with children and families and other people, whether they be brothers and sisters in Christ from afar. We had a fellow here from Switzerland, spent the night in the parking lot in an RV last night, a pastor. We get the chance, Lord. Would you use us?
Would you use these, your sensitive, humble, and obedient servants to do your will? However, you want it done. Would you let us recognize when we're being hindered and there's a closed door, but would you also empower us to walk through every open door that we can see that you're opening. In Jesus name, I'm thankful to be here to do this. Amen.
Would you stand with me? And as we sing this, may it be our prayer where he leads me? I'll go.
Speaker 2I can hear my safe you're calling. I can hear my savior calling. I can hear my savior calling. Take thy cross and follow. Follow me.
Where he leads me, I will follow. Where he leads me, I all the way. I'll go with him through the judgment. I'll go with him through the judgment. I'll go with him through the judgment.
I'll go with him with him all the way.
Speaker 1Amen. As a kind of a benediction kinda, this today is something to be considering. Everyone that you meet, think about this, the Lord is not slack or he's not slow about his promise. He has he has put the gospel out there. It's objectively true and it is a universal call for all.
He's not slow about doing his business. He's still in the business of saving people. The Lord's not slower, slack about his promise as some of us count slowness or slackness but he's patient towards you. He's not wishing that anyone perish but for all to come to repentance. Lord God almighty, may we live our lives in such a way, surrender to your spirit, humble before you, that others recognize you, not us.
May we be a part of the vast and unchronicled witness that carries your gospel forward. Would you use us however you want to? In Jesus name, amen. Amen.
Topics
Acts 16Divine AppointmentsFollowing God'S DirectionMissionary CallingSalvationSpiritual Sensitivity
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